Iraqi lawmakers elect parliament speaker, ending days of deadlock
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi lawmakers elected a Sunni Arab as parliament speaker and Shiite and Kurdish leaders as his deputies on Sunday, ending days of deadlock as they sought to balance the country’s predominant religious and ethnic groups in a new government.
The selection of Industry Minister Hajim al-Hassani as parliament speaker was a step toward repairing the tattered image of the newly elected National Assembly, which had bickered for days over the post.
“It’s time for the patient, Iraqi people to be treated with the dignity that God has given them,” al-Hassani said as he accepted his new post.
He urged his fellow lawmakers to work together, adding that “if we neglect our duties and fail, then we will hurt ourselves and the people will replace us with others.”
Hussain al-Shahristani — a Shiite and former nuclear scientist — and the Kurdish leader Aref Taifour were elected as al-Hassani’s deputies.
The parliament’s 275 members have struggled to form a new government since Jan. 30 elections, and their session Tuesday to choose a speaker disintegrated into shouts and accusations.
Lawmakers had focused on picking a Sunni Arab for the post, in an effort to reach out to the minority dominant under Saddam Hussein. Sunni Arabs, believed to make up the backbone of the insurgency, have a disproportionately small number of seats in parliament because many boycotted the election or stayed home because they feared attacks at the polls.
The three were chosen by secret ballot, with lawmakers allowed to write the names of no more than three of five possible candidates on pieces of paper that were dropped into a box. The ballots were then read out loud and marked down, one-by-one, on a large, white board. Two were left blank.
The three top candidates — Al-Hassani with 215 votes, al-Shahristani with 157, and Taifour with 96 — were elected.
Al-Hassani urged legislators to pledge their “allegiance to the country and the people, not to the party or the sect or the ethnicity.” His statement was greeted by applause.
Officials said 28 parliament members were absent from Sunday’s session, including outgoing Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who was not in Baghdad. Ten showed up during the voting, and five came after the ballots were cast. Some said they were held up because streets were blocked due to security concerns.
Shortly after the votes were tallied, an apparent mortar round fell behind the Foreign Ministry building, just outside the heavily fortified Green Zone where the lawmakers were meeting. No casualties were reported.
Lawmakers had hoped to also name a new interim president — expected to be Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani — but officials said that would be put off for a few days.
Once in his post, Talabani and his two vice presidents have two weeks to name the new interim prime minister, expected to be Shiite politician Ibrahim al-Jaafari. After that, the legislative body has until mid-August to write a new constitution that will pave the way for new elections and a permanent government.
In western Baghdad, officials were investigating an attack by dozens of insurgents who blew up car bombs and fired rocket propelled grenades late Saturday outside the Abu Ghraib prison.
The 40-minute clash killed one insurgent and injured 44 U.S. forces and 13 prisoners, U.S. military officials said.
It was unclear if the clash was aimed at helping prisoners escape. The militants were unable to penetrate the prison’s walls and no detainees were set free.
Some soldiers were evacuated with serious injuries, officials said, but many wounds were minor and treated at the scene.
Abu Ghraib was at the center of a prisoner abuse scandal that broke out in 2004 when pictures showing soldiers piling naked inmates in a pyramid and humiliating them sexually became public. The resulting scandal tarnished the military’s image worldwide and sparked investigations of detainee abuses.
The United States is holding about 10,500 prisoners in Iraq, with 3,446 at Abu Ghraib.
Also Sunday, the U.S. military announced that a Marine had been killed by an explosion while conducting combat operations a day earlier in the central city of Hadithah.